Alice a daily account of her declining condition, the announcement of
her death excited no surprise. In a few weeks after her journey, a
fictitious funeral completed our system of deception.

"The moment when, according to our concerted plan, the death and
interment of Lady Greville were formally announced to me, I repented
of the detestable scheme which had been successfully executed. My
soul revolted from the part of 'excellent dissembling' I had yet to
act; and refused to sloop to a public exhibition of feigned
affliction. I shuddered, too, when I contemplated the shame which
awaited me, should some future event, yet hidden in the lap of time,
reveal to the world the secret villainy of the man who had borne
himself so proudly among his fellows. Yet even these regrets, even
the apprehension of fresh difficulties in the concealment of my
crime, were insufficient to deter me from the prosecution of my
original intention; and blinded by the intemperance of misguided
affection, heedless of the shame and misery into which I was about to
plunge the woman I adored, I sought and obtained your hand.

"Helen, from that moment I have not known one happy hour, and the
first punishment dealt upon my sin was an incapability to enjoy that
affection for which I have forfeited all claim to mercy, here and
hereafter. The remembrance of Theresa, not in her present state of
self-abstraction, but captivating as when she first received my vows
before God, to 'love and honour her, in sickness and in health,'
haunted me through every scene of domestic endearment, and pursued me
even to the hearth whose household deities I had blasphemed. I
trembled when I heard my Helen addressed as Lady Greville, when I saw
her usurping the rights, and occupying the place of one, who now
appeared a nameless 'link between the living and the dead.' I could